How You Can Save The World: Sustainable Living and Social Activism

View Details

Just in time for the Holidays, a way to be a little tiny bit optimistic about humanity. Yes. Good news. From the honoring of Colin Kaepernick to the lifelong Republicans in Alabama who have yes, already voted for Doug Jones to the wondrous, generous, life saving action being taken by the Clinton Foundation in Puerto Rico. There are angels among us, and if, like me, you sometimes (ok maybe 92% of the time) feel despair about the state of things....its awfully nice to realize that goodness exists. So, tune in for a quick blast of uplift then return to whatever you are doing for the holidays!

View Details

DON'T PANIC!! SHOP THIS LIST!!!!

CLOTHES AND ACCESSORIES

• Pact Yoga and leisure and underwear!

• Amour Vert, fashionable clothing for the green fashionista

• Athletic Wear

• Shoes made out of what???

• Backpacks, messenger bags, handbags made out of ?????

TOYS TOYS TOYS

• Brilliant Eco Toys made from wood

• Magical Woodland Toys made for your sprite

• Toys for the bath, the pool, the garden and healthy sustainable play dough sets

HOME AND GARDEN

• Rodales

• Bambeco

• Viva terra

• Toilet Paper for every Woodland Creature! And The Claus’ Ho Ho Ho

• Organic Gardening Supplies

• The Life Without Plastic store

• The huge one stop enviro gift site

• Organic Sheets that won’t break the bank

• Independent Books on the Web

RECIPES FOR HOMEMADE GIFTS

• Greatest Easiest Granola Recipe in the World

• Nigella Lawson’s Alcoholic Hot Chocolate

• Limoncello for the rest of us!

• Adorable recycled glass bottles for your special Limoncello brew

View Details

Welcome to How You Can Save The World

My name is Barbara Edelman

And this is Episode 23 Your Green Guide to Holiday Gift Giving

Oh dear heavens it’s fast approaching. You know what i mean, the happiest time of the year. As we round the horn on the first year of Trump’s Presidency, spirits are flagging. BUT….none the less, I think we need to put the pep back in our step and what better way then….making a list checking it twice and then throwing up and laying down on the sofa with a damp rag on our brow.

Oh lord. The holidays. The ha ha ha holidays. Actually. I am saying to myself, self, snap out of it. This is the time to actually put some joy back into our world. If all we do is fret and check our phones and exist within the parameters of our screens well..what exactly IS the point of it all?

My contribution to the season is to have compiled a source of all sites that will make your holiday gift giving easy as well as good for the planet. Since my last holiday episode (nearly 2 years ago!) the amount of possible environmentally beneficial yet totally delightful gift sites has exploded! There are so many wonderful choices of things to get for your loved ones as well as the planet. Now, the downfall of this podcast is it is always so information dense and one can listen to it, and not be able to specifically recall the info we discussed. THAT IS WHY…drumroll maestro? In addition to all links being on the show notes to every site ever mentioned, I am also including a transcript of each episode that I will release on the website howyoucansavetheworld.org at the same time I upload the episode. I will also put a link to the website on the show notes so you can hop over to it even from your smart phone. The transcript is just that, the entire show, in writing. I will try to embed the website links into the transcript for your convenience as well.

Now..here we go. Close your eyes. Imagine that instead of sitting at our computers and looking at a list of websites, or scrolling through Amazon on our phones…. imagine that we are going back in time….(time travel Sound effect) to a lovely late November Day. The year is…oh…somewhere in the late imaginary 1950’s. As we finish our morning cup of coffee we out the window to discover that… its snowing! A beautiful light dusting of glimmering soft white flakes are floating down and making every inch of our backyard sparkle. Looks like this year we will really have a white christmas! Well, you and I have big plans! Today we are going to tackle our holiday shopping list, and honestly on such a lovely winter day what better thing COULD we be doing! We hasten to the downstairs coat closet, tug on our boots and slip into our warm winter coat. As we go out the front door we pull on our gloves and snuggle into our warmest muffler, because, baby its cold outside! Off we go, through the snow to catch the train into center city. Its so lovely outside. Waiting for the train, we even thought we might have heard the soft jingle of distant sleigh bells. Soon we arrive in town, just in time to join a throng of smartly dressed city shoppers all bustling about with their own Holiday lists. The smell of street vendors roasting chestnuts just makes us swoon with happiness. Ahh, and here we are! At our destination, the department store of our dreams, every window dressed with holiday sparkle and delight. In we go, unwinding our mufflers, tucking our gloves into our pockets and readying ourselves for a day of shopping. We know we want to start with clothing so we force ourselves past the counters stocked with cut glass bottles of intoxicating fragrances, we meander past the line of mothers holding the hands of awe-struck children waiting in line to sit on the lap of the fattest and jolliest of all Santa Claus’! We zoom through the mezzanine, where the lights on the giant tree twinkle, filling the air wit h the scent of pine and the memory of distant forests. Everyone is excited and happy. The biggest problem we are going to have today is deciding what wonderful beautiful hand made trinket to get for each person on our lists.

Lets first head over to the clothing department. Because everyone wears and loves beautiful clothes. AND

Mrs. Claus has made it clear that sustainable fashion doesn’t mean ugly anymore!

Pact (https://wearpact.com/women) Website is the first clothing counter in our sights. The sign above the stacks of soft organic cotton merchandise states, “Pact began with a lofty goal: to create the comfiest clothes in the world without destroying the earth, or harming people. We believe that what we wear, matters.

By using the best sustainable ingredients, and Fair Trade Certified™ factories, we create clothes that don’t just feel good, you can feel good about wearing them.” Well. How neat is that.

As one holiday shopper to another I feel compelled to tell you that I love love love their 30 dollar black drawstring yoga/lounge pants. There isn’t a better deal out there for you or the planet. They also make great underwear, socks and yoga clothes. But holidays are not made up of yoga clothes! So, after tucking a pair of lounge pants and socks into your cart, you head

directly to the beauteous AmourVert. Counter. Seriously this company makes gorgeous clothes. The sign above their glorious display of silks and cotton and jewelry informs us that “Amour Vert was founded on the belief that great fashion and social responsibility can coexist. Their name means Green Love in French, but it also means American manufacturing, non-toxic dyes, sustainable fabrics, a zero-waste philosophy, and above all, enduring style.

Amour Vert believes they can make the world a greener, more beautiful place – one garment at a time.” And again, as one human wearing clothes to another, you can’t find more lovely clothes anywhere. People actually compliment me whenever I am wearing one of their silk tops, or simple tee shirts (and they plant a tree for every single tee shirt they sell). I only mention this because in the past, my sustainable wardrobe didn’t garner compliments so much as comparison to what was being worn at the good will. But Amour Vert has changed all that. They have flagships in San Francisco, Los Angeles and NewPort beach. They make stunning clothes. Not cheap. But it is the holidays after all. One tip, if you fall in love with a style on the website or in the catalogue buy it quickly. When you are working with sustainably produced textiles and garments only manufacturing in the US with well paid workers, you do small runs so sizes run out quickly. Also, check out their sale section. Summer and another heatwave will be here before you know it.

AmourVert (https://amourvert.com/collections/new)

As for athletic wear. Sometimes a person doesn’t wish to wear cotton. And then that person, who is an athlete, and needs all sorts of togs that make me weary to consider donning, should get a gift from the Girlfriend Collective (https://www.girlfriend.com/our-story) As you reach out to touch one of the beautiful insanely soft feeling apricot colored pairs of leggings, you read the sign above…about how these leggings came from a chip of plastic from a discarded water bottle in Taiwan.

There is tons of info on the Girlfriends website, about how the plastic bottle goes from being another ocean killing hunk of garbage to being the soft apricot crave able object in your hands….but we just don’t have time to learn about all this because we have SO MANY OTHER THINGS ON OUR LIST, and it is getting close to twilight, so into your shopping bag go the leggings and a jogging bra, and you mosey over to the accessory department..

to find the most comfortable, most fashionable shoes you have ever tried on made from….oh my! Recycled plastic bottles. Rothy’s shoes are the only shoes I will ever wear again. In fact my happy little toes curl in delight inside my faux leopard printed Rothy ballet flats, as I ooh and ahh over each new pattern in the display. Again..these shoes are pricey. BUT here’s the amazing thing about them. THEY NEVER WEAR OUT. I mean, plastic never decomposes, right? And shoes made from yarn spun from plastic bottles…they don’t wear out either .AND you can throw them in the washing machine. And you can wear them to the opera, or to the supermarket. They are utterly fashionable, and totally comfortable. Did I mention they were comfortable? So check your list, see if you have your daughter-in-laws shoe size on it, and buy her a pair. I guarantee she will never wear anything else again.

Next to the shoe department is the handbag department and oh oh oh, there is the most luscious looking brown leather backpack you just wish you could buy it but you have sworn off cruelty things like leather…but WAIT, OH! LOOOK. The sign above the intoxicating display of all kinds of handbags says Evas Cork Bags are made from sustainably harvested cork! “You shouldn't have to sacrifice quality to have something that's cruelty-free. Vas take pride in creating beautiful cork products that you can feel great about. In addition, cork makes our entire collection. Cork, if you didn’t know, is the bark of the cork oak tree. Eva’s Cork Bags’ farmers only harvest the cork off a tree every 9-10 years, which allows their trees to grow faster and live longer.

The colors are created by dying our cork fabric with organic vegetable dye. no harmful chemicals or glues in the creation of their products.” Well, my niece is going back to Vermont in her first year of college and so…my hand reaches out, and snags that gorgeous backpack. Its expensive. But….I do love my niece!

Eva’s Cork Bags (https://www.evecork.com/)

Ok. You shake your head. You have spent a fortune on a few items and you have made a few notations of what you deeply hope you will get from a loving relative. So..onto the actual real reason you had to go shopping in the city today. The department store has the most magical toy department outside of the north pole, why, the salespeople are all elves. All very proud of their handiwork. You knew Santa employed fair labor practices, and you knew that he would never make a toy that would harm a child or the environment. Santa is so cool that way.

So You hustle back down stairs past the jolly old elf ho ho ho ing at the scared little toddler perched on his lap. As you fly by, Santa gives you an approving wink and you feel as if you have won the lottery, which, lets face it, you might need to do if you buy more than one cork backpack.

Into the toy department you go, twinkling lights are everywhere, sleigh bells are jingling, and candy canes sparkle next to mountains of magically created glistening snow.

Heaped up on the back of a shiny red santa sleigh are brightly colored wooden toys made by…PlanToys (http://plantoys.com/product-category/age-group/3-years/) Oh my goodness. You just can’t stop putting different toys in your basket! The sign above the display informs you that they are all sustainably made our of rubber trees that no longer produce latex. Every single thing about these toys has been thought out to be good for the kid and great for the earth. Even a tricycle! Seriously, whatever you think you would get made out of plastic that is just so manifestly terrible for the environment, buy the Green Toy or Plan Toy version, Why not buy a toy made from what would otherwise be something else we discard, transformed into something great for your child. There is a darling set of woodland animals complete with a little hill and tree for them to hide behind. A tray of wooden food for the budding cook. Balancing game sets for little ones which are not so easy to find, mind you, a cactus, a boat, a tree full of monkeys. If you have a toddler you MUST race to their website. There are farm sets, and a build a robot set, trucks, doll houses, a build a castle set…there just is something for every child on your list.

I would stay at this display for the rest of the afternoon, but just beyond, in a magical forest display, are the toys from the Magic Cabin Website…….Oh My! Fairies, elves, woodland creatures, cooking, costumes, dolls,—whatEVER your little elf requires for the HaHaHolidays…you can get at Magic Cabin. They have an entire page of 64 sustainably made toys for you to check out, and honestly the things on the rest of the site are adorable too. Dress up clothes, kits for older kids, books, just a magical cornucopia of gifts. (http://www.magiccabin.com/eco-friendly-toys/eco-friendly-toys.htm Your basket is so heavy, it is so laden with beautiful desirable wonderful things…how ever shall you continue…but…you have a grandchild, and nieces and nephews and neighbors…and well…its the holiday season and everyone must just help spread the magic.

So moving on, next to a pretend pond, we find the display of toys from The Green Toys Website

(http://www.greentoys.com/our-passion) This is another company trying to make good use out of all the discarded plastic in our universe. Their toys are made out of recycled milk jugs. In front of you are great little gardening sets, jump ropes, tons of bath toys, and pool toys, a toy farm, dump trucks, think an eco version of all the basic toys out there. They have a new line of non toxic play dough with all sorts of neat kits to transform it into stuff—as well as all kinds of fake food/cooking kits. Into my bag go the play dough kits. Why would I buy the chemically made stuff when I don’t have to? Yes, the devoted savvy eco parent knows how to make play dough at home, but this stuff won’t spoil. Also..they have all the neat kits to make that play dough into something swell.

I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted. So it is time to take a break. I offload my stacks of merchandise to a lovely woodland creature who swoops by and offers to take it all to get wrapped up for me. I am so relieved, one last chore from my list. The elves at the store will happily wrap up my choices in sustainable sparkly paper. So, relieved of all my burdens, both physical and mental, I walk through this beautiful snow globe of a department store into the cafe. It is time to take a break. Happily I take a seat at a little gilded table, and order a cup of Nigella Lawsons intoxicating and by that I mean intoxicating because every hot chocolatey sip is spiked with rum. (don’t despair, I shall include a copy of the recipe in the show notes. Every adult truly needs to have a cup of this fragrant holiday elixir to fortify themselves for the holiday season. As I sip my restorative decadent warming cup of cocoa, I look out the window at the snow still gently drifting down, and scan through the rest of my shopping list. Time is passing, and I have a lot of people and sites to get through. So chop chop time to hustle. Reluctantly I drain my cup of magic and head back out into the store, to focus on gifts for the kitchen and the home.

The home section is laid out in a giant wood paneled farmhouse area of the store. There is even a big fireplace replete with crackling logs in the grate. The first counter I arrive at is Rodales ….what a great website. They were the first people who started to beat the drum about organic farming, and the need to care for the earth, and honestly they have stayed true to their mission. Also, the gifts I’ve gotten people from this site have been beloved.

Most of the time I didn’t want to actually give them away..(http://www.rodales.com/) Sadly they have a little less merchandise this year, then last. But I still think this is the go-to place for buying something nice for the environmentalist on your list say a stunning apron made of linen…or even if you decide that you want to make lets say my homemade fabulous REALLY GREAT granola to give away to friends and family for a little home made hahaholiday gift that will truly be appreciated vs. more cookies which will be eaten but dreaded…..you can package the granola in their gorgeous little reusable glass terrine jars. they aren’t the screw tip lids, they have the clamp down rubber gasket attached lid, and are beautifully shaped and great for beautiful food storage. If you doubt their adorableness, take note, they are made by french company Le Parfait. They will add a little je ne said quoi to your humble yet delicious granola. (which did I say comes to gather in 10 mins, with an hour plus baking time that really requires zero attention from you—I shall of course include a link to that recipe in the show notes as well)

Onward from Rodales to the upscale very elegant display from Bambeco. Their prices are a little high, but for something special check this site out. In addition to them going the extra mile sustainability wise, Every purchase plants a tree. A sign above their farmhouse table stocked display reads “At Bambeco, we strive to inspire sustainable living.

We design, create and provide responsible home goods that inspire sustainable design and enhance the way people connect with our planet.” I especially like all their do it yourself oddball kits…beer making, cheese making, moose head making out of cardboard…I tuck a few of these kits into my basket as gifts for my adult sons.

VivaTerra is right next to Bambeco, and stacked high upon the counter is a luscious array of beautiful sustainably created gifts. The prices of the crave-able gifts at Viva Terra are a wee bit more reasonable, they run the gamut from (https://www.vivaterra.com/gifts/ideas/eco-friendly-gifts.html) a pretty glass vase for 12.00 to a Recycled Glass Beehive Drink Dispenser for 77.00 you can find something beautiful or manly or womanly, or college studently for every grown up on your list.

AND DON”T FORGET to tuck in a roll of Give a Crap bamboo toilet paper for each lucky human you know. The elves must have a sense of humor or they read the email from friend of the show and beekeeper Jessica Lamden about how everyone will get a laugh out of unwrapping a roll of toilet paper this year! Made from bamboo, utterly sustainable and not packaged in one shred of plastic. (https://us.whogivesacrap.org/?utm_source=talkable&utm_medium=other&utm_content=Advocate%20Dashboard%20Standalone&utm_campaign=51698&talkable_visitor_uuid=946ac80c-6b5a-4960-9aaf-2242b1d607ca&talkable_visitor_offer_id=42184026) These rolls of toilet paper are festively packaged, truly in adorable wrapping.

From the kitchen display I mosey into the fake outdoor porch display where I come upon a raft of Gifts for the Garden

Even if the folks on your list are not huge gardeners, everyone likes a houseplant. Well, almost everyone. And if you do have any gardeners on your list, please check out the website (https://www.groworganic.com/) (https://www.groworganic.com/search?q=gifts) they have 64 organic gardening gifts …beautiful items, from a do it yourself Succulent Container Garden to la little book called making liqueurs for gifts which…come on, if you only gave people your homage granola in a weck canning jar, or a le Parfait french terrine, along with a small bottle of your home made limoncello, you’d be beloved forevermore.

I now turn a corner and find myself in the huge Something for Everyone display that takes up the entire center of the second floor of the store. Here are tables stacked sky high with all kinds of gifts.

From the Life Without Plastic website (directed here by the famous Beth terry website My Plastic Free Life) (https://us.whogivesacrap.org/?utm_source=talkable&utm_medium=other&utm_content=Advocate%20Dashboard%20Standalone&utm_campaign=51698&talkable_visitor_uuid=946ac80c-6b5a-4960-9aaf-2242b1d607ca&talkable_visitor_offer_id=42184026) there are a ton of useful neat everyday objects all made WITHOUT PLASTIC. Now they might not be gifts that are made up with the maximum OOOOHHHH this is so cute vibe, …you would be surprised at all the really great and necessary things..gifts for babies and kids and parents and humans that you can get that will replace the need for plastic. Its a great resource. Especially if you have a newborn in your family somewhere.

Two steps away is the fabulous display from Eartheasy.com Here is a counter with a little of everything for everyone. Their prices are reasonable and I defy you can whip through this site and not find something for everyone on your list. Including, those disaster preparedness things you think folks should have on hand…I mean, nothing says a holiday gift from me like a disaster preparedness basked. Including a life straw, an NOAA emergency hand crank solar rechargeable radio, solar lanterns and a bivvy to hop into on a cold night when you are fleeing death and destruction through the woods. But hey, my idea of a great personal gift is NOT in the mainstream. But..while you are shopping all the adorable cute things on this site, just, for my nagging sake, take a quick peek at the emergency preparedness stuff they have for yourself. Sadly ,that next hurricane/tornado/climate catastrophe is just around the corner.

(https://eartheasy.com/gifts/all?p=2)

.I personally like to get people things they will really need and use. So to that end, West Elm sells really wonderful, soft, beautiful organic cotton sheet sets. Who has enough sheets? I ask you? No one. Maybe Ivanka. I’m sure hers are not organic. Or..wait…wouldn’t that be ironic if she insisted on totally organic products for her home? People are never consistent. Sadly. I always want them to be 100 per cent bad or good. No shades of grey in my preferred imaginary universe. But..of course. We all float around in the middle doing our best, and as this is the holiday episode, lets hope she does buy organic sheets, and in her heart knows that an organic world is a safe and healthy world. Ok, moving on. check out those sheets! Good for the planet, great for the bed, beautiful for the bedroom, win win win win.

Remember put your dollar where your values are. Our entire society revolves around buying and sellling. If you buy only the products you believe in, products that express your values, you will actually be making a difference. Purchases are tracked people. Every single one of them. The more organically grown, sustainably created merchandise you choose, the more that will be created and sold. Basically if someone can make a buck over it they will sell it.

Sadly our shopping day is at an end, but hooray, you have found a gift for every human on your list. A gift you are excited about giving them. From a beautiful sweater, to a dog dish made of recycled elk horn (ok, I made that up.) It is hard, and probably absurd on a podcast to try to describe all the sustainable wonders that are out there just waiting, HOPING that you will buy them. But, as we pull our gloves on, and wind our mufflers around our necks, and toddle back to the train station carrying more packages then we thought possible, we feel so good about ourselves. We feel good about what we are giving people, and we feel good about supporting all the wonderful artisans who create things without destroying the earth. Win win win win win.

Oh, and while you are at it, buy everyone a book to read. A real book. With pages. So they can put down their phone and enter another magical universe. If you don’t have a small independent bookstore near you anymore, go to https://www.indiebound.org/

Home Made Gifts Anyone will appreciate and you will have fun making.

Ok, There will be links in the show notes to my super duper homemade granola recipe (I got this from the mystery Topped Chef: A Key West Food Critic Mystery by Lucy Burdette and hey, if you have a foodie on your list, or a mystery reader, tuck a paperback copy of the book into the box you ship the granola in! Talk about win win win win. (http://www.mysteryloverskitchen.com/2012/06/lucy-burdettes-good-for-anything.html)

There will also be a link to the Nigella Lawson distressingly wonderful alcoholic hot chocolate (http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/nigella-lawson-alcoholic-hot-chocolate-215306)

And a link to Giada De Laurentis’ homemade Limoncello liqour. (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/limoncello-recipe-1916618) I tried to pry the secret recipe my daughter’s boyfriend made one year from him, but he swore an oath of secrecy to the waiter in the hills of Italy that taught it to him, that he would never divulge it to another mortal. So though that is pretty amazing stuff, we shall have to make do with Giada’s version which is quite delicious and only takes 4 days to marinate.

Please, if you do decide to give as a gift the Limoncello, order these charming little bottles made of recycled glass to decant it into. And of course, use organic lemons! (https://www.specialtybottle.com/glass-bottles/recycled-spanish-glass/swing-top)(https://www.specialtybottle.com/ordering-information)

Thats it my friends. Please have a happy healthy sustainable holiday season. I end this year optimistic that we are slowly getting back on track and heading in the right direction. There is so much goodness around us. Have you ever scrolled through FaceBook and just marveled at how many posts are photos of people who love each other? People who are creating dance or theater pieces? Puppet Shows? Podcasts? People who are adding to the world, not destroying it? People who are devising new systems to recycle, or to harness renewable energy? People who are working in school gardens, or serving on local community councils. There are so many of us that are trying with all our hearts to love our world back into health. That matters. I will end our year of podcasts with a brief reading from the end of my very favorite book of all — A Wrinkle In Time

I think this book shines a light on the path forward, to both sanity and the saving of our world. I wish for you this holiday that you wrap your arms around your Charles Wallace, be it a child, a partner, a dog, or a cockatoo, ad love them with all your might and main, and that they love you back as well.

Happy Holidays my friends. I look forward to talking to you in January.

View Details

Episode 23 Green Holiday Gift Guide !!! Please email feedback to ME!!! I’d love to hear from you!

Communicate with the show via Twitter or Facebook!

What’s this one all about? This episode looks at all the wonderful new companies out there that are selling ONLY sustainably produced gifts! I’m talking gorgeous clothes, sumptuous handbags or messenger bags, shoes your feet (and Anna Wintour) will love, toys for every little elf on your list, home and garden gifts, kitchen gifts, books, ideas for gifts to make at home and give in (OF COURSE) recycled glass gift containers! Why, if you can’t do all your shopping from this list of websites you aren’t human!

So venture back in time with me to our imaginary magical department store and get all your shopping done in one fell swoop!

Show topics ! * Gift guide! * Links to recipes

THE GREATEST GREEN GIFT GUIDE IN THE WORLD!!

CLOTHES AND ACCESSORIES * Pact Yoga and leisure and underwear! * Amour Vert, fashionable clothing for the green fashionista * Athletic Wear * Shoes made out of what??? * Backpacks, messenger bags, handbags made out of ?????

TOYS! TOYS! AND TOYS!! * Brilliant Eco Toys made from wood * Magical Woodland Toys made for your sprite * Toys for the bath, the pool, the garden and healthy sustainable play dough sets

HOME AND GARDEN!!! * Rodales * Bambeco * Viva terra * Toilet Paper for every Woodland Creature! And The Claus’ Ho Ho Ho * Organic Gardening Supplies * The Life Without Plastic store * The huge one stop enviro gift site * Organic Sheets that won’t break the bank * Independent Books on the Web

RECIPES FOR HOMEMADE GIFTS * Greatest Easiest Granola Recipe in the World * Nigella Lawson’s Alcoholic Hot Chocolate * Limoncello for the rest of us! * Adorable recycled glass bottles for your special Limoncello brew

Help us all save the world! If you found this episode helpful kindly go over to iTunes and make sure that you are subscribed. If ratings are your thing, a rating would do wonders to help more people learn all about how to save the world!

How to find the transcript? Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Just head on over to howyoucansavetheworld.org to look at all the show notes, or the transcripts or just..click here! and look for the Episode 23 Transcript post.

Connect with the show!

Facebook
Twitter
Email: howyoucansavetheworld@gmail.com

View Details

Welcome to How You Can Save The World

My name is Barbara Edelman and this is THE TRANSCRIPT!!! of

Episode 22 Disaster Preparations for the disorganized Environmentalist

Hello Everyone.

I have been missing in action. No two ways about it. I had two family crisis hit —thankfully the major one resolved well, while the other one, well..it resolved. Lets leave it at that! But…here I am. AND while I HAVE THE FIRST CHEST COLD OF THE PRE-SCHOOL YEAR. I may sound a little bit odd….but if you can stand my croaking I shall proceed.

Because, while I was fully absorbed in my crisis the world’s crises moved into high gear. Since we’ve last talked, three category 4 hurricane have slammed into the united states. (one of which I actually, unfortunately, got to experience a little of along with tornado warnings and much hiding in Tennessee basements)there was a horrific life shattering earthquake in Mexico, Puerto Rico is still both under sea water as well as without drinking water, and there have been dozens of forest and brush fires burning millions of acres across eight western states, just this past few days two new fires broke out in California spewing enormous volumes of smoke and ash into the atmosphere, devastating communities and creating hazardous breathing conditions all over the Pacific Northwest.

I don’t want to start to predict the end of times, but at least as far as the environment goes, we are in a terrible transitional state of affairs.

I suspect the increased earthquakes have less to do with the climate crisis, and more to do with all the nuclear testing and fracking going on. But….I digress, from the point I was making about the big picture. The big picture is that coming soon to a neighborhood near you…will definitely be..a crisis.

The point of this episode is about how to prepare yourself and your family for when disaster strikes. Because, make no mistake, if you are a human living on the planet, a climate crisis event will effect you. If you are a human living on the planet, you might also experience a cyber related act of hostility. (Power grids knocked out, along with banks and all other cellular data). And if you are a human living on the planet, it doesn’t hurt to be prepared.

NOW, I have not turned into a total prepper——though as I was researching this episode my husband has begun to look at me funny. Perhaps thats because of the huge amounts of supplies suddenly taking up residence in the bedroom closet.

Because, lesson one. It doesn’t do you any good to have —- wait. Hold the phone.

I need to tell you that in addition to the copious show notes this episode will generate, with links to every product I have deemed useful, i am going to try to get the show transcribed, so you can actually print out the text for reference purposes. So make sure to check today’s episode’s show notes. Otherwise, you will listen to the show, think oh yes, I should do that…and if you are like me….forget ALL about it till the next catastrophe.

Back to our previously scheduled disaster prep conversation….. It doesn’t do you any good to have stuff scattered around your house. Meaning. I had tons of bottled and what turned out to be expired, packets of Coast Guard approved water on a shelf in the laundry room.

I had my emergency radio in the battery drawer of the coffee table.

I had my solar lights in the bedroom on a bookcase, because I use one of them to let the dogs in and out the bedroom door at night.

And canned food? Well, obviously cans are in the kitchen cabinets.

My point is, it does you no good in a real emergency to have to go hunting all over the house to find and assemble your supplies. Because during that 7.1 earthquake, the folks in Mexico didn’t have time to remember that they left the kids sleeping bags under the suitcase in the downstairs hallway.

So. Fear not. We are going to start at the beginning, and get you organized. If I did it. Anyone can do it. Being prepared won’t prevent the disaster, but it will make you calmer about facing it.

So. Here we go. Declare the dining room table your assembly area for your kit. Or a corner. I don’t care, just designate a place to put all this stuff before packing it up. You will eventually need a duffle bag, or a big clear plastic wheeled tub to put this stuff in. But first, lets get it all together.

Here is a list of what FEMA says every disaster prep kit should have: (https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/1390846764394-dc08e309debe561d866b05ac84daf1ee/checklist_2014.pdf) And the link to that list will along with everything else I’m referencing be on the show notes.

Water, one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days,

for drinking and sanitation

Food, at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food

Battery-powered or hand crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with

tone alert and extra batteries for both

Flashlight and extra batteries

First aid kit

Whistle to signal for help

Dust mask, to help filter contaminated air and plastic

sheeting and duct tape to shelter-in-place

Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation

Wrench, pliers, crowbar

Info about how to turn off utilities

Can opener for food (if kit contains canned food)

Local maps

FEMA adds that you might wish to include supplemental items of:

prescription drugs

spare pair of glasses

pet food and water if you have a pet

cash and change

emergency reference material (you can download this and print it from www.ready.gov if Trump hasn’t wiped that site clean yet)

a sleeping bag for each person.

a complete change of clothing for each person

Clorox and a medicine dropper. When diluted 9 parts water to one part bleach you can use this as a disinfectant,. I think in case of dire emergency, such as what is occurring in Puerto Rico, you can actually disinfect dirty drinking water 16 drops to a gallon of dirty water.

Fire Extinguisher

cooking stove

mess kits

feminine hygiene products (good to pack wounds in case of emergency catastrophes as well as for their actual purpose)

Now, I personally have added the following items to my list:

I add to this, duct tape

a plastic tarp

a cell phone charger

extra medications

a roll of kitchen sized trashcan plastic bags for pooping purposes I will provide link to a much more comprehensive poop situation. It is called the two bucket bathroom system. You will need to purchase 2 buckets and ideally two toilet seats to make this work. I am not doing this. But…depending on where you live, you might want to at least read up on the thinking behind it. Apparently the worst problems, odor and germ wise, come in mingling poop and pee. So you have one bucket for pee, and one for poop. Pee is sterile, and can be disposed of with less concerns. You can use it as nitrogen rich fertilizer, if it comes to that. But…poop is another matter. After The poop bucket is used, you are advised to toss into the bucket a handful of leaves and or dirt to cover the offending offering. Once your bucket is full of poop. (OH GOD is the emergency going to go on long enough to require me to dispose of an entire huge bucket of poop?) you can bury it someplace far from water supplies or, from food sources. Anyway. I say, toss a box of white kitchen trash can size plastic bags in your kit, use them to line a toilet in your house. Dispose of it as needed.

Lets hope we none of us need to think about this.

Back to my personal additional list of supplies:

3 or 4 solar powered lights (I like Luci Mpowered brand.)

solar battery rechargers

rechargeable batteries in different appropriate sizes

a bag of individually wrapped milky way bars (I feel that I will need one to sustain my mental health during the crisis, especially as I deal with those poop buckets)

Purchase a life straw from Earth easy.com (https://eartheasy.com/green-home/emergency-preparedness/lifestraw-3pack) The LifeStraw personal water filter, a "Best Invention of the Year" (Time magazine) winner, enables users to drink water safely from most contaminated water sources. Basically you can use it to filter out 99 percent of anything horrible from any water source.

a solar oven

Ok, JUST LOOKING AT THOSE LISTS MAKES YOU NOT WANT TO DO THIS CHORE.

Its easier then it seems. I dutifully started putting all this stuff on my dining room table, and as the mountain of supplies grew, I started to wonder where the hell I was going to put it all.

If and when the big earthquake comes, and my barely functional 1958 house comes tumbling down in a stack of twigs and a flurry of broken glass, I’m not sure what rooms will still be standing, and/or if I will have the time to be able to lug 500 pounds of emergency supplies out the door as my husband and I, screeching at each other hurtle into the abyss. Thus, I did what any sensible and/or lazy person might do. I ordered 2 72 hour emergency backpacks from the Red Cross. I keep one in my car, and one by the front door.

Each of these backpacks has in it the basic supplies one person will need to survive any emergency for three solid days.

In each back pack is:

1 Waterproof AM/FM radio with batteries

1 Battery powered flashlight (2D cell batteries included)

4 AA cell batteries

1 Emergency blanket, 4.5′×7′

Moist towelettes (individually wrapped)

1 Pen light

Food packets, 2,400 calories total, 5 year shelf life (ingredients include wheat flour, vegetable shortening, granulated sugar, salt, water and coconut flavoring)

Water pouches, total of 16 ounces, 5 year shelf life

Procedural breathing mask

Rain poncho (adult sized)

1 Roll of duct tape, 2" × 30 yds

1 Water container, holds 3.5 gallons

1 Whistle

1 Hygiene comfort kit, including toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, lotion, soap, deodorant, washcloth, comb, and mesh shower bag

1 45-piece First aid kit

The reason I keep one in the trunk of my car, is because I figure, the car is outside. And wherever I go, it will be right with me. I keep one by the front door, because my husband keeps his car in the garage, and if there is a bad earthquake we mightn't be able to get into the garage. Also we will have to take my car as its a hybrid and uses practically no gas.

I have added to my backpack, a NOAA hand crank/solar chargeable emergency radio that can charge a cell phone. That radio is also available on the Red Cross site.

Two other items….one for each of our backpacks something called an emergency bivvy. Its a rolled up teeny tiny packet that holds basically a sleeping bag. If you're without heat, or if you're forced to spend the unexpected night outdoors, hop in the SOL Emergency Bivvy as soon as the temperature drops and instantly improve the odds in your favor.

Ultra-light, ultra-warm, full protection emergency shelter

Made from the same heat-reflective polyethylene as AMK's world-famous emergency blankets (reflecting 90% of your body heat back to you)

Fully sealed so that no wind, rain or snow can get inside

As I said, rolled up it is so tiny it fits in the palm of your hand. Unrolled it might just make wherever you are fleeing to, or even if all the power runs out…habitable.

So. Ok. You can just stop right there. I considered it. I mean…its just me and my husband. So…we have our two handy dandy backpacks, oh, and did I mention that you can also get a family of four sized 72 hour emergency pack from Red Cross too? It’s on backorder because of the insane current level of demand, for obvious reasons. But if things calm down for 15 minutes and you are a family of four, you can order one of those.

Lets say you choose to follow my path and order your backpacks.

You can, cheerfully, call it a day. Or…you can go a step further. I did that. I went a step or two further. Because….

Watching what is happening in Puerto Rico, and living in an Earthquake/fire zone I thought…hmm. Can any of us trust that for the foreseeable future, the current Federal Government is going to rush to my aide, or my city’s aide? So

That meant….

Re-examining those original lists. And beginning once again to put together a big duffle bag of supplies for longer term bad situations.

One thing you must consider is how you will co ok something, even if its just a cup of tea, or a pot of ramen.

A cooking source is critical if you are in a long-haul catastrophe situation. Gas lines will be disrupted. Electrical power will be extremely unlikely. And you are going to get tired of submitting on calorie bars.

I think it’s worth considering purchasing a solar oven. You can get an incredible easy to use one from Earth Easy. Now this is a big ticket item. It costs 359.00. But it is completely portable and can cook anything just with sunlight. If people had that in Puerto Rico they would have nothing to worry about in terms of boiling water, or cooking simple food.

And you can take it camping if you are so inclined. Which I’m not. (https://eartheasy.com/gosun-sport-solar-stove-pro-pack)

I have several different cooking options that I purchased during previous EarthQuake prep attacks. These are of course short term solutions. meaning, only useful as long as the fuel source for them is available. A solar oven will work as long as there is sunlight. One of the crazy kits I ordered years ago came with teeny tiny little pots and pans for cooking. Additionally I have a candle stove, a few cans of sterno, and a little camping stove. I also have squirreled away sterno heating up set ups from previous thanksgivings. But a solar oven trumps (forgive me) all of them, because unless we are sitting in a storm cloud from Nuclear fallout, the sun will shine and you will have all the energy and fuel you will need to make dinner. Or oatmeal.

Here is another item that I think every single house in America should have. A portable solar power generator.

You may have read that Elon Musk is going to Puerto Rico to rebuild the power grid using solely solar? The Tesla company has a VERY expensive item called a power wall, which basically is a bank of batteries you have in your garage, attached to solar cells on your rooftop. This provides back up power for you to run your entire house when, as they say, the zombie apocalypse happens. (Translation, Trump triggers North Korea).

But, A tesla power wall costs, just for the equipment, 6,200. Were I rebuilding and I lived in a hurricane area, you bet I’d have one of these as part of my new home. But…most of us cannot shell out (installed) between 7-10 thousand dollars just to prepare for a disaster we hope won’t come. Even if you have solar power already on your rooftop, that power is harvested by the power company who comps you the value. It isn’t directly providing the electricity for your home. This is the way the Power companies got to stave off the obvious switch from you buying power created by them burning fossil fuel and them charging you for it, to you simply running your home from free sunlight. So those cells, if you have them, and I do, will not help you during a power outage.

Of course. this is so maddening. How many times have I told you that all ALL the solutions to solving the climate crisis exist RIGHT NOW. All the industries are set up to take off and save the day. We don’t have to kill the planet to run our coffeemaker. But…that is a subject for another podcast.

BUT today,…you can purchase from (http://www.goalzero.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI67W92vbc1gIVDnF-Ch0VnQmzEAAYASAAEgL6LfD_BwE) Goal Zero a portable solar charger. Basically. Depending upon the size of the unit you buy, Its a batter pack that will run cell phones, laptops, small televisions, lamps, even a small fridge. The prices range from the smallest model for 600 to the largest one (that they say can run an AC, a Fridge, power tools water boilers etc.) for 1799.

You need to purchase in addition the portable solar panels as well. My understanding is that you can charge these portable generators from plugging it into the wall as well as by using the solar cells. The best set of solar cells for the larger station is 300. The panel for the smallest model costs 150.

If I lived anywhere I thought power loss was a real and/or dangerous possibility, I’d definitely splash out and buy one of these. Afterall. Even if there is a terrible storm, the sun will come out. And you will have power. If you have the solar oven, you will also have a cup of coffee.

All that said, full disclosure….I have not purchased a solar oven or a solar power generator. I know I should. I just haven’t done it yet. But full disclosure, I think if you live in any kind of disaster area and you can afford it…these are important items to own.

But back to what I have done.

After I got the two 72 hour backpacks, and squirreled them away (Make sure you put your life straw into them as well as your bivvy)

I hauled everything out that I had put in various corners of my house. The teeny tiny cook stoves. The mess kits. The lifetime supply of Coast Guard approved drinking packets which as I said I discovered HAD EXPIRED,( I guess the last time I had a disaster prep freak out was five years ago)—my bonus medical supplies, my solar lanterns, (Oh I am partial to Luci mPowered lanterns. They are waterproof, they are fully rechargeable in the sunlight, and they provide enough light to read by, to use as an emergency beacon, or as a flashlight to let the dogs out at night.) I put one of those in each of the backpacks as well. I also keep one in my big kit. And one by the back door.

I found two sleeping bags from when the kids were theoretically camping, and put them in the pile. I added my box of plastic kitchen trash bags, and a few bottles of vodka, and vinegar for emergency disinfectant and cleaning supplies. It cant hurt to toss in a bar of soap.

And then I packed everything up in a big plastic tupperware container with wheels and stored the whole mess in my bedroom closet. As I suggested before, you need to think through the safest place in your house…and that is usually a hallway, or an easily accessible closet near the core of the house. (away from windows and doors).

It is very important to have an emergency stash of cash on hand. When disasters strike and power is out, the ATM machines don’t work. Nor do credit cards. And, fema suggests a copy of all your important documents should be in your backpacks..maybe a copy of your license/passport/bra size—-I mean it is hard to believe that the emergency will be so comprehensive that you will be needing to use a copy of your passport to survive, and if it is, hard to imagine what that kind of documentation will do for you. So. I have not done that. I should have. I guess when I’m done with this episode I will. For some reason I have an inherent reluctance to prepare for the worst case scenarios. But thats what this episode is for, to encourage you and me to get with the program.

Now, onto food prep. Boy, this is another thing I dragged my heels on. I mean..house, kitchen, cabinets food. Surely some of that stuff will still be accessible. What more do I need?

Again, I think a small carton you can haul out of your house full of non-perishable food is a pretty good idea. You don’t know if you will BE in your house, or even if you will still HAVE a house. So. Make a small food go-carton. Obviously, check all expiration dates on the cans….and plan to review this box of stuff every year to make sure nothing has expired, or gone bad. In this box should go an extra manual can opener, and cans of food. The kind that would be good in an emergency are—-things that can be heated up very quickly and consumed. Cans of fruit are good too. Nothing that needs work. You could put in packets of ramen. I also have tossed into the box a bag of uncooked black beans and a bag of rice. While those things take water and time and heat to transform into edible food, if any of us are faced with the nightmare now confronting Puerto Rico, having a bag of rice and a bag of beans along with a 10 pack of ramen noodles might make all the difference. Of course also pack energy bars. Cans of tuna fish. Cans of ready made soups. Oatmeal. I will post a link to a Vegan woman who created a 72 hour food emergency bag for her family. Everything is easily purchased. But….I’m just going to go with the basics and hope for the best. Because,honestly….there have to be limits. Presumably in the dire emergency I am imagining, some of my canned food will still be rolling around my kitchen. I should add that my husband has never met an odd can of food he hasn’t been sure we would get around to trying one day. So in my kitchen there are a lot of cans. A lot of cans of things I normally would never even consider eating….but in a Puerto Rico sized emergency I will be profoundly grateful for every single can of Thai lemon grass stalks floating in Coconut Milk. If the house is still standing, or if I am still standing, I will finally get a chance to eat some of his even odder shopping choices.

I also have a supplemental first add kit that I put together myself. Neo Sporin, non stick gauze bandages, 2 bottles of peroxide, and of rubbing alcohol (in my imagination I have to perform a splenectomy in the woods by the light of an led lantern) But you get my drift. If there is an emergency like ANY of the ones confronting fellow Americans this past month, people might be hurt, or bleeding and need help before you can actually get TO help. I’d toss in huge bottles of Tylenol and whatever other over the counter meds you find useful. Pepcid might be good. The very thought of all this misery is giving me massive indigestion even as I try to come up with the list.

The deal is….in a real emergency will there be cell phones? Will there be food for fridges? What are the basics you will need to wait it out? To survive comfortably until order restores itself?

The main thing every site says is to develop a plan. A plan means….where you will rendezvous should none of you be home during the emergency. An out of state contact — local phone numbers may be unreachable, but if you have identified an out of state person, and you can all check in with that person you can know everyone is safe.

There are now, and I hate to even say this, let alone think it, tons of sites with info on what to do in case of a nuclear attack. Living in California this threat seems like something to take seriously. More so if you live in Guam or Hawaii. Obviously, in the event of a direct hit nothing will be of any use. BUT, should you get warning of an imminent attack you must find a deep parking garage (pre-identify this) and get down to the lowest level you can. Fall out is worse during the first 24 hours. I started to think about all this, then decided that aside from identifying the closest basement or parking garage, there wasn’t much I was going to do but hope for the best. So lets just draw a curtain over that dire possibility and plan for the panoply of miserable but survivable natural disasters spread out in front of us.

One last VERY IMPORTANT piece of advice I’d like to leave you with….is that you should read all the instruction manuals for all the handy dandy items you have ordered BEFORE you store them away and forget about them.

In the beginning of the summer, we had a huge power outage due to heat wave induced blown power station. And guess what? My cell phone was out of battery, and I couldn’t, in the dark find my solar/crank charging radio. I couldn’t figure out where I’d left the extra solar lanterns— and all in all, I was bumbling around in the dark, trying to find this stuff, and read the teeny tiny print that came with the hand crank radio, and that was when I knew we were really not prepared for much of anything.

I wish more then I can say that this kind of preparing weren’t necessary. I wish more than I can bear that we lived in calmer times. But we don’t. So as good old Ben Franklin once said An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure.

And lets be grateful to our community of enviro-activists and inventors. Most of the very important items that I have put into my emergency prep bags and kit are solar powered. All these inventions, inventions that could literally change the world, save the world ALREADY exist, and we could be using them not for the imagined horrific disaster someplace in our future, but to change the way we produce and consume energy right now, so those other disasters never come to pass.

BOOK REPORT

I’ve been reading a lot lately. Averaging 3 or 4 books a week. Mainly because I need to mentally escape from our current reality. And I need to slow down. I decided to include a segment in our broadcast devoted to whatever book I’ve just read that I think might salve your psychic wound, and also to get a conversation going about what you have read lately as well. The rate I’m going I will need a lot of recommendations just to make it through the rest of the year. So please…post your own new book discovered on our FB page.

So…last night I finished Wendell Berry’s masterpiece “Jayber Crow”. I have long heard about Wendell Berry. I have read his poems. Perhaps you are familiar with The Peace of Wild Things? It has been circulated quite a bit recently on FB

When despair grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting for their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

No question about it that poem is both heart breaking as well as gorgeous. Thanks to a wonderful friend, Ginny Russell, I was introduced to his fiction. And thank God. If you care about the earth, and you must, or why would you listen to this podcast? If you are perplexed by how we got to this terrible time in our history, if you try desperately to see the big picture, …Jayber Crow is the book for you. It’s a god’s eye view of humanity, seen through the eyes of a very plain man. Jayber is a barber. A wanderer. An orphan. He fetches up in the small Kentucky town of Port William, where he lives out his very small, very beautiful life. It traces the whole mess. How we went from living as part of our earthly landscape, to being so severed from it….that we are willing kill it and not recognize that we are killing ourselves too. Its all there. Including the pathway out. As Ginny said to me in an email last night, Berry leaves a trail of breadcrumbs back to sanity.

There have been many graduate thesis, and papers written about BErry’s work and particularly about Jayber Crow. I won’t add my two cents to the worlds’ analysis! I will just say that what held me riveted were the underpinnings— the discussion Berry had about the earth, and about the ineffable laws governing its existence that mankind ignores at his own peril. It also is about redemption, and how to find our way back.

If you are weary of the way we are, and if you are willing to slow down a little, and take the time to read this book, I promise you will be changed. Even more important, if everyone who read Berry’s books took his advice, the world would be changed back into something we might actually recognize as habitable.

NEW PRODUCT

Here is another handy dandy new segment. Its the enviro product of the month. Now, I make zero money off the podcast, and I get no kickbacks or incentives to like a product. So, honestly, these are my true experiences and honest opinions. I long ago accepted that I am a bossy drawers and like to tell people what to read, and what to buy. Think of the misery of being my younger sister? One day she turned to me and said with richly deserved exasperation, “I AM A 60 YEAR OLD WOMAN! I think I can figure out how to get through the day without your expert advice.”

That said…here’s some expert advice! Beth Terry, author of the book Plastic Free—-and writer of the blog “My Plastic Free Life” recently posted about a new toilet paper “Who Gives a Crap” she orders by the case. Its made of bamboo. (https://myplasticfreelife.com/2017/09/who-gives-a-crap-recycled-or-bamboo-toilet-paper-without-plastic/) and comes without any plastic packaging.

I confess I was intrigued. Bamboo is a great alternative to wood pulp in the making of disposable paper products. Bamboo is a quickly growing annually regenerating crop as compared to a carbon sequestering, oxygen producing tree that takes decades to grow. I will provide a link in the show notes to Beth’s post detailing all the wonderful reasons to buy Bamboo Toilet Paper vs. Paper Toilet Paper, even recycled paper toilet paper. Getting rid of single use plastics is her motivating goal, and you can order a case of Who Gives a Crap that has zero zip zilch plastic packaging to dispose of. But there are many other eco benefits to using Bamboo.

But, what the hell is bamboo toilet paper? I have long thought Scott Tissue as the only toilet paper that doesn’t destroy septic tanks or cause plumbing problems. But..I saw a package of Who Gives A Crap at the local supermarket and thought….why not try it? Have you ever thought of how much toilet paper one human is responsible fro using? How many trees were felled to produce it? How many gallons of chemicals were used to create it? How many gallons of bleach was all that pulp swished through to whiten it?

I tried it. Its great. its fine. It does the job well. It doesn’t screw up the pipes or the plumbing and it doesn’t add one drop of plastic to the world. And it doesn’t add tons of chemicals and toxins to the world. And it doesn’t destroy trees. So. Win win win. Plus, if you buy a case of 48 Rolls for $52 that comes out to 1.08 a roll. You can, if you special order your toilet paper by the case from one of the usual sources get it cheaper. But really, not that much cheaper. And this one saves the world. Imagine that….you can save the world by changing your toilet paper brand.

Small steps people.

View Details

Episode 22 Disaster Preparations for the Worried Environmentalist Please email feedback to ME!!! I’d love to hear from you!

Communicate with the show via Twitter or Facebook!

What’s this one all about? Worried about a flood, a fire, an earthquake, a tornado or any other climate crisis related disaster coming to a neighborhood near you? Join me as I make quick work of getting ready for come what may! (Ok, maybe not THAT quick when you actually have to spend an afternoon doing it...but come on, just taking one measely afternoon to prepare yourself so you don't have to panic in an emergency situation is pretty quick!) Here in one handy dandy place is everything you need to read, print out, and squirrel away to protect yourself and your family in case of disaster.

I have tried to be as comprehensive in my amassing of info as I can be. I have tried to make this as easy a process for you to do as possible. If you can, take a look at all these links..make a few decisions. Put together some kits on your own, and buy a few add-ons. Be prepared. Don't kid yourself, the way things are going, you will be glad you listened to my eternal nagging.

```

SHOW TOPICS ``` * Fema must-have’s and suggested add-ons for your emergency go bag. * My Personal add-ons—what I think I will need, and suggest you might consider including. And hey…what the hell will you do with all the poop your family will undoubtedly be generating during a crisis! * The Red Cross, not just a place to give and get blood anymore! * Solar ovens, Solar back-up generators * Life Straws! * What is non-perishable food and why do I want some? * Book Report–A New Segment! This month its all about Jayber Crow and Wendell Berry * New Product Report–“Who Gives A Crap” NO not about the new product..the new product IS Who Gives A Crap Bamboo Eco Toilet Paper!!! Hear all about it!

Links mentioned on the show! Guys, please, please, please, click on some of these links!

Info Sites for Emergency Prep:

Fema’s Emergency Prep Must-have lists
Federal Guidelines for Planning ahead for an emergency
Fema sample print out of how to create a family emergency plan
Red Cross—go check out their site. Its not just about donating blood. You can even become a volunteer in your area.
And sorrowfully–What to do if there is a Nuclear Blast
Poop Solutions–Read this and print out PDF even if you don’t plan on going any further The Twin Bucket Emergency Toilet
Yes, there is an app for this! 10 Apps you can download that will keep you safe

LINKS TO SUPPLIES YOU CAN/SHOULD BUY * Red Cross 72 hour Emergency One Person Backpack

Emergency Bivvy
Rechargable Hand Crank AM/FM/NOAA Weather Alert Radio–remember this also will recharge your cell phone and comes with a solar panel for charging as well
Life Straw–get one for every member of your household
Portable Solar Oven
Another Portable Cooking option
The KellyKettle–its a tiny stove that runs on whatever fuel you can scrounge up, pinecones, twigs, leaves, anything.
and finally—in case you didn’t get a stove despite my nagging here is the guide to print out how to make one out of a tin can. How To Make A backpacking Stove
Let there be light, PLEASE! I’d advise getting at least 3 of these. One for each go bag, and one for your at home nightmare scenario big duffel bag prep kit.LuciMpoweredSolarLanterns

FOOD PREP Word to the wise. You can order all sorts of freeze dried food supplies from places as diverse as REI, COSTCO and/or Walmart. You can also download lists of what you need, and go to the supermarket.

72 hour Emergency DIY food kit
VegetarianMenuPlan and list of supplies for 3 days or 1 week
A Book to buy read and tuck into food storage box
A GREAT WEBSITE, not just for Vegetarians (lets face it, who is going to be hauling around legs of lamb during an apocalypse?)
SolarOvenRecipesPDF
How to make your own Solar Oven at home if you didn’t follow my advice and buy one. Print out this pdf, and at least keep the supplies to make one of these in your duffel bag.

SOLAR BACK UP POWER *The Tesla FABULOUS power wall. If you are really flush and/or really need to rely on back up power

Portable Solar rechargable Power Packs GoalZero

*READ UP BEFORE YOU COMMIT AND BUY! Off Grid Solar System in a Box

HOME-WIDE portable solar power generator. $$$$ but you will have power. And that may make all the difference. You won’t run out of fuel either. Hello? Sunlight!!!! Be Prepared 2500 Watt 24V Solar Generator with Solar Array

BOOK REPORT * “JayberCrow” by Wendell Berry New York Times Book Review in case you want to get more info then my teeny tiny book report * link to purchase it via Indiebound

NEW PRODUCTS * Who Gives A Crap Bamboo Eco Toilet Paper * Beth Terry’s blog post all about this fabulous world saving toilet paper so you can get all excited before you order it!

Connect with the show!

Facebook
Twitter
Email: howyoucansavetheworld(at)gmail.com

Apocalypse Chow: How to Eat Well When the Power Goes Out

View Details

Sorry show notes so skimpy, had a slight emergency. But here is the link to Palisades Beautiful

Will update all show note info when I return.

Best,

Barbara

View Details

Ok..I have posted previously about my fancy pants eco air cooler purchased on line from Italy, called The Geizer

Suffice it to say, it works like a charm...BUT...I figured out how to make one myself that looks way less beautiful but works just as well.

So, ready? Lets build a mini air cooler. This little handy dandy device is wonderful on your desk top, next to your bed, or even just next to an armchair where you might be reading...what? Say an organic gardening magazine! (A MAGAZINE? Who in their right minds reads one of those anymore?) Still. You get my drift. Drift. A nice cool drift of refreshing air coming your way...sounds good right?

Ok. Here's what you need. A BIG box of Swiffer wet floor mop pads. I usually don't advise buying anything plastic, or disposable, but after casting around for a suitable box that would EASILY make an air cooler, landed on this. Plus...you can use all those swiffer wet cloths to mop up spills without feeling guilty about adding to the trash in a landfill because YOU WILL BE USING the plastic box AND THE LID that the cloths came in forever! Here is a lovely image for you to appreciate of the Swiffer --you want the 24 cloth size. bigger box.

The cost of that is $7.99.

Additionally, you need to order from Amazon (another thing I usually never do...but as all the Radio Shacks seem to have gone the way of the gardening magazines....we must waive our anti amazon issues, just this once, for this fabulous air-cooling, low-energy-usage exception) this...a Nifty Small Fan

Here is a photo of it. Just to encourage you.

See how cute it is? Anyway. Order it. it costs all of $18.99. Whoops you also need to purchase some of those mini refreezable things you stick in lunchboxes. I'd go ahead and buy 6 of them. That way...you can always have some re-freezing in the freezer, while you are cooling off with the additional set.

Here is a link for purchasing a CASE of them! Not that you need a case! But....

If you did buy a case...you get 24 re-freezable ice packs for 24.00. But of course, you can get just 2 or three in any market in the land.

Now...here is what you do.

Use up the swiffer wet mop cloths. Rinse out the container.

Take a sharp scissors. Cut out a 3 1/2 inch by 4 inch square in the center of the see through plastic lid of the swiffer box.

Open the box your fan came in. Assemble it. (Takes one minute...basically you are just screwing the covers onto the fan, and sticking the plug into the socket).

Take your sharp scissors and cut rectangles out of the 2 LONG SIDES of the blue plastic swiffer box.

Take three of your frozen refreezable lunch things and lay them next to each other inside your swiffer box.

Put lid on box. Lay fan down on top of the hole you cut in the plastic lid.

Put box wherever you want it. Plug in fan. Cool off.

All of 15 minutes to a nice afternoon of nirvana. Oh...and the little blue ice blocks will sweat, and condensation will collect beneath them in the plastic box. I put a washcloth in the bottom of the plastic box to collect up the moisture. Remember, electricity and water are a BAD combination. So make sure you keep your fan above the blocks and all shall be well in the land.

Stay cool!!!! (And really, the axial fan uses barely any energy at all, so think of this...your freezer is already running. So tossing in the blue ice packs doesn't add to energy usage, in fact, a full freezer lowers the energy costs of USING the freezer in the first place. A teeny fan like this one uses practically zero energy....so...honestly....if you use this to cool off you are doing this hot old world a power of good)

ONE OTHER COOLING OFF TIP for a hot night!

I made rice bags out of brand new clean cotton tube socks. To do this...buy the socks...pour in rice till foot part of sock is nice and full. Tie the top of the tube sock in a knot. Put the sock in the freezer. When it is cold, pull it out, and drape around your neck, or if sleeping over eyes. Rice in the sock will stay cold for about an hour. BUT, if you make two or three, again, you can always rotate them in and out of the freezer as needed.

ONE LAST TIP. You know all those other blue ice block lunch things that you got in your case? Take one or two, pop them in a plastic bag (to protect against condensation) and put them in the foot of your bed. In England they used to use hot water bottles on a cold night to warm up the bed--and keep their tootsies warm as they fell asleep. There is no earthly reason not to reverse this...and cool your sheets and your self off with those handy dandy ice packs!

Stay cool my friends. Its going to be a long hot summer. Cranking up the whole house AC all the time is going to cost you tons of money and is also going to accelerate global warming. These tips may seem silly, but honestly, my office area is cool from my home made eco cooler....and I find the rice bags friendly and soothing.

Oh..you can refreeze the rice bags for a long time. Maybe a year?

AC Infinity AXIAL 1225, Quiet Muffin Fan, 120V AC 120mm x 25mm Low Speed, UL-Certified for DIY Cooling Ventilation Exhaust Projects

View Details

Episode 20 Come with me to meet Jon Ossoff! What I learned, who I saw, and what is the future of Georgia’s 6th District!! Please email feedback to ME!!! I’d love to hear from you!

Communicate with the show via Twitter or Facebook!

What’s this one all about? Join me as I venture forth into Georgia’s 6th district! Yes, your intrepid podcasting friend hopped on a plane, and went to canvas for Jon Ossoff in the final weekend before the big election!

This episode is about my experience—a blue state democrat in a red state republican district. I realized in the editing of the show….which is, in the main, about the special election—- that it is actually about a much bigger picture.

So, here’s a disclaimer….this episode IS about the Ossoff campaign, but it is also in many ways the experience I had, bumping into a culture that is manifestly different then my own. If I offend anyone at all, I’m deeply sorry. If I seem condescending or smug in my Blue State Elitism….I am even MORE sorry. I have tried to tell the story of my time there….and what it was like to drop into a world where the act of canvassing door to door in an affluent Republican stronghold felt like those who were doing it were taking a true risk. Was it like marching across the bridge in Selma? No, obviously it was not. But…I’ve lived all my life in places where my idea of justice, of the law, of spirituality, of community—was inclusive, color blind, and had the stated and implicit goal of being fair. To suddenly be operating in a land where the underpinnings of the society are so different—-was a shock.

I know this election didn’t turn out as we wanted….but….this episode is all about the inspiring democrats I met and worked with. Listen in and vicariously experience the excitement, the ups, the downs, and the hopes the locals have for the future of this once solidly Republican bastion. I promise…you will feel better after you tune in.

Links mentioned on the show! *Wall-of-Us

*Washington Post Article by Jon Ossoff: Lessons for Democrats from the Georgia election

*FiveThirtyEight podcast episode analyzing election results

*Pave it Blue

Connect with the show!

Facebook
Twitter
Email: howyoucansavetheworld(at)gmail.com

View Details

Episode 19

Fear and Loathing in America Please email feedback to ME at howyoucansavetheworld@gmail I’d love to hear from you!

Communicate with the show via Twitter or Facebook!

What’s this one all about? This episode looks at the link between the life and death struggle our planet is engaged in, and the ambient fear we are all reacting to. Can animal and vegetable alarm pheromones trigger fear in humanoids? Additionally what about the unprecedented high levels of CO2 we are all suddenly trying to live with? If high concentrations of CO2 make mice frightened, what on earth is it doing to us? I explore the science behind the possibilty that our heightened fear responses may be triggering a vengeful return to tribalism that threatens both our common sense as well as our survival as a species. Take a xanax, or a belt of bourbon, and tune in!!!!

Show topics * Human fear pheromones, they exist!! * How does a pheromone work, for crying out loud? (its an invisible sensory telegram exuded in sweat, urine, or even tears–sent by one organism to another.) * After message is received, how do humans behave when afraid? * Taking refuge in tribalism—the first step towards the undoing of civil society. * How do we refrain from being frightened, and act from our reason, not our amygdala?

Links mentioned on the show!!! Guys, please, please, please, click on some of these links! The scientists and political scientists, and researchers and writers I site are wayyyyyy smarter then I am! You will learn SO much if you just take a moment to click on a few of the links. Their research is incredible.

Invisibilia Episode "Disappearing Fear"

Dr. Liliane Mujica-Parodi, sky divers, and fear pheromones
“The Smell of Fear is Real, say Scientists”
“The Neurobiology of Olfaction”–or the evidence that fear pheromones cross species lines
World’s Vanishing Glaciers Put Millions at Risk
What the hell does melting permafrost have to do with me?
“The trees that make Southern California Shady and Green are Dying. Fast.”
How much CO2 is in our atmosphere? “Carbon Dioxide Set an All-Time Monthly High”
Fear. “How Your Body Responds to Fear”
“Powerlessness and the Politics of Blame” by Martha C. Nussbaum
"How Tribalism Overrules Reason and Makes Risky Times More Dangerous by David Ropeik
“Tribalism is tearing America Apart” by Robert Reich
YouTube A.C.T. therapy video ….how to use the tools of Dr. Russ Harris to separate your reason from your automatic fear response
Professor Jon Kabat-Zinn Mindfulness teacher, writer and scientist, and the program he designed at UMass called Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction.
The super cool, super neat Muse bio feedback meditation teaching device you can use at home!

Connect with the show!

Facebook
Twitter
Email: howyoucansavetheworld(at)gmail.com

View Details

Sorry. Had a tech snafu. Will be publishing Solar Video link as soon as I sort it out.

View Details

Hi everyone.

Well. Here is a photo of my Western Redbud in bloom.

It is a tiny tree, to be sure, but t'is mine. And I planted it, as per the instructions from TreePeople back in October. And the photo was taken in April. Now its a nice little leafy tree!

And here is a photo of the TreeGator that I came across on a recently planted street tree in Santa Monica.

And there is a photo of the instructions for how to use it!

Now I know that Linda at TreePeople expressed reservations about using the TreeGator, and they made a ton of sense. But, if you are planting your treelet in a difficult to access place, or if water source is far away, this is a good option.

Otherwise, follow her instructions. A nice 20 minute soak from a slow slow hose is the easiest way to water your tree. Or...failing that, 3 buckets full of water you slowly pour into the well you left around the trunk is a low cost, easy to do option. Just hard if you planted your tree on a slope as I did.

AND if that isn't enough tree info, here is a photo I took on a walk the other day. A wild tree growing on a hillside above the Pacific.

I take photo's of trees on every walk I take. I just think they are so remarkably beautiful. And....I think of them as benevolent dinosaurs. Creatures leftover from another age. But...these ancient guardians are here to protect life on earth. The least we can do is to plant new ones, and treasure the ones in our care.

View Details

Please send feedback to howyoucansavetheworld@gmail.com! I’d love to hear from you!

Communicate with the show via Twitter or Facebook!

In this episode I talk to Clarissa Boyajian and Linda Eremita of TreePeople all about their organization and about trees! Tons of info on why you should plant a tree in the age of Trump ESPECIALLY. How planting a tree is the single best thing you can do right away to help stop global warming as well as to add more oxygen to the atmosphere. Breathing is good, right?

Show topics at your disposal! * Tree Planting Humans who have made a difference. * Hubnath Pandrey * Felix Finkbeiner (?) * Andy Lipkis * Interview with Clarissa Boyajian and Linda Eremita of TreePeople * The science behind why a tree is so wonderful. * How to plant your own tree.

Links mentioned on the show! Inspiring Humans Who Are Planting Gazillions of Trees! * Professor in Mumbai who is a tree-planting genius * The 9 year old who launched the planting of over 14 billion trees! * Want to help Felix plant a tree? * The Los Angeles Teenager–now 62 year old wizard who has transformed and created how we think about the urban forest

References To the Science behind the statements!! TRUE FACTS!! * How many trees are required to produce oxygen for 1 measely person? Namely, you!! * How trees product oxygen? * How much CO2 can a tree actually take out of the atmosphere, and other fun things trees do! * What can you expect climate change to do to your neck of the California woods? Type in your zipcode here! * Need to find an urban forestry organization in your city if you DON’T live in Los Angeles?

Info about how YOU yes YOU can actually plant your tree today!!! * The right tree for your zipcode! * Video on how to plant a fig tree! I love this company. They provide so much helpful info in the form of blog posts as well as videos. You can really learn a lot about how to plant anything on their site, and it helps that the plants you order from them are 100% organic and EXTREMELY healthy. My blueberries are insane! * Step by step video and blog post on how to plant a tree * More info on how to plant a tree * How to tell what kind of soil you have in the area you want to plant your tree! * The right tree for the right soil!!! THIS IS IMPORTANT. Take 10 minutes to read this BEFORE falling in love with your tree.

Connect with the show!

Facebook
Twitter
Email: howyoucansavetheworld(at)gmail.com

View Details

Episode 17: Emergency Broadcast Please send feedback to howyoucansavetheworld@gmail.com! I’d love to hear from you!

Communicate with the show via Twitter or Facebook!

This brief podcast is a response to the firing of James Comey. A few words of wisdom, inspiration, and ideas for what you can do.

Links mentioned on the show! * 3 Senators Save Methane Regulation * Emergency Episode of The Lawfare Podcast * Department of Justice Website Hotline * re:act newsletter

A list of some of the folks I follow on Twitter:

Claude Taylor @TrueFactsStated
Scott Dworkin@funder
Spread the Vote @SpreadTheVoteUs
InspiredJen @inspiredjen
Michael McFaul @McFaul
LouiseMensch @LouiseMensch
Malcolm Nance @MaclolmNance
PhilippeReines @PhilippeReines
Oliver Willis @owillis
Celeste P. @Celeste_pewter
Blake Hounshell @blakehounshell
Darvid Rothkopf @djrothkopf
Ian Millhiser @imillhiser
Jonathan Capehart @CapehartJ
Neera Tanden @neeratanden
Steve Clemons @SCClemons
Kurt Eichenwald @kurteichenwald
Evan MCMullin @Evan_McMullin
Lawrence Tribe @tribelaw
Susan Hennessey @Susan_Hennessey
Lauren Duca @laurenduca
Sarah Kendzior @sarahkendzior
Ari Melber @AriMelber
Josh Marshall @joshtpm
David Corn @DavidCornDC
Joan Walsh @joanwalsh

Connect with the show!

Facebook
Twitter
Email: howyoucansavetheworld(at)gmail.com

View Details

Guys, LISTEN TO THIS PODCAST EPISODE!

The Cracked Podcast

This is the bomb...they discuss the endless ongoing 'outrage machine'--that is making us all crazier then we really need to be.

From the episode's show notes:

"It's become your daily morning ritual. Wake up. Open Twitter. And here comes your fix. It's something like, "Trump Surrogate Says Jews in the Holocaust Didn't Have It So Bad?" and you're off to the races. How could he!? Do they know how insensitive that is? And so on, and so forth until tomorrow, when it's something else. It's the rage machine and it exists on both sides......"

Also if you have a news addiction, like I do (maybe, according to the Cracked episode it's more of an adrenaline/dopamine addiction to outrage) consider reading the book "The Craving Mind, from cigarettes to smart phones to love--why we get hooked and how we can break bad habits" by Judson Brewer. Full disclosure, I found out about this book from a tweet by Micheal Pollan and yes...I wouldn't have found that tweet if I wasn't glued to twitter. But...this book is really incredible. You can look at it here! Reading this book, more than any other thing you can do, will lessen your stress level vis a vis politics, the news and life here on earth.

View Details

Two Snapshots of my life as an activist:

Here you can see:

a) a postcard I wrote (Yay me!) and

b) my sadly messy bullet journal.

Hey, I never said it was a work of art, I just said it kept me sane and organized!

And then..there is also---

c) my 9,000th cup of coffee.

View Details

Episode 16

IT'S STILL UP TO US !!!

Please send feedback to howyoucansavetheworld@gmail.com! I’d love to hear from you

Communicate with the show via Twitter or Facebook

This week I talk about ways to stay sane while continuing to be a committed and effective social activist. I was lucky enough to get us an interview with the creator and editor of one of the best Weekly Social Activism To Do sites

The down and dirty recap! * An interview with Jenn Hofmann of The Weekly Action Checklist for Democrats, Independents, and Republicans of Conscience. * George Lakoff, FINALLY we discuss that term thrown about on every news program, ‘the narrative’. It actually means something important…especially if you have Trump Voter friends/foes/relatives in your life! * Oh the joys of the Bullet Journal! * Time Management and your new extra bonus career as a social activist! If you do this…you will keep on keeping on. * My Go-To sources for weekly social actions: 1. Jenn’s Weekly Action Checklist 2. re:act 3. Flippable 4. Spread the Vote 5. 5 Calls a Day 6. Indivisible * Go to a meeting a protest, or a townhall for your own sanity’s sake. 1. Swing Left–Adam Green * KINDNESS COUNTS * How to help an immigrant re-settle into the US * International Refugee Assistance Project * How to not lose your marbles… 1. Zen and the Art of Activism * Who said that? 1. “Never Give Up, Never Surrender” 2. “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” (and yes, I totally got the quote wrong when I was speaking to myself in the episode!! Bonus points if you noticed that!

All the links!!! * Jenn Hofmann’s Weekly Action Checklist for Democrats, Independents, and Republicans of Conscience * George Lakoff * Bullet Journal * GREAT article on how to set up your bullet journal * re:act * flippable * Spread the Vote * 5 Calls A Day * Indivisible * New York Times Article about How to Help Refugees In the United States * Info on online course to help refugees at International Refugee Assistance Program * A Zen Master’s Advice on Coping With Trump

Help us all save the world! If you found this episode helpful, kindly go over to ITunes and make sure that you are subscribed. If ratings are your thing, a rating would do wonders to help more people learn all about how to save the world!

Connect with the show!

Facebook
Twitter
email: howyoucansavetheworld@gmail.com

View Details

Here it is!! Isn’t it darling? As promised, here is a photo of my very own Egloo. As I mentioned in the episode, I love it. We have 2 for our kitchen/family room. They are 7 inches in diameter, and 4 inches tall. All you need to raise the ambient temperature of the room by 3 degrees is 3 tea lights.

Which…brings me to this lovely place, CandleScience --
That's where you can order all the accoutrements for making an endless supply of carbon neutral soy wax tealights. By the way, if this intersests you, Candlescience has tons of how to videos on their website. But…for a quick and dirty version…here is my method.

My gear is VERY high tech…an old saucepan for boiing water, and a very inexpensive blue metal pitcher I got from Ikea about 8 years ago. You can see it by clicking here It costs 14.99. Worth every penny.

Basically, I just put the soy candle wax flakes in the blue pitcher, put the pitcher in the boiling saucepan of water till the wax melts (I need to keep adding flakes as they melt down…you will soon see how much wax you need for how many tea lights you make…its not an exact science. Or I suppose as with anything it COULD be, but honestly, just eyeball it.

While the wax is melting, put your little pretabbed cotton wicks in the center of each plastic tealight cup (yes, they are plastic, but as such, you can keep using them over and over again all winter, whereas the recyclable tin ones you can’t, they are too fragile to pop the old wick bases out of and resuse.)

As soon as your wax is liquefied, lift the pitcher up by the handle (use a potholder, as the handle gets pretty toasty) and pour in the wax to nearly the top of each tealight. You may need to readjust your wicks into the middle of each cup after they are all filled. I do all this on a tray, because if I dribble wax who cares, and also, I can turn the tray around for ease of pouring.)

The whole operation takes about 20 minutes start to finish.

Leave your little candles to cool and harden for about a half an hour—then I put them all in the designated ‘candle drawer’ and use them as needed.

NOW, here is a photo of a home heater I made myself.

My husband is an artist, and he was sent a lot of these odd wooden shadow boxes from Blick Art Supplies as freebies when he bought x amount of pain. I snuck upstairs and liberated one from his cupboard…then I had some old penny tiles in the garage from the bathroom floor project (BUT YOU CAN LINE THE BOX WITH ANY TILES OR EVEN NONE AT ALL! I’m sort of a safety first nut, so I think, when playing with fire..best to be on the safe side and put a fireproof barrier down beneath all the candles…you could put a plate or a saucer) so I glued the tiles down and then grouted them. THEN I got these L brackets from the hardware store, and inverted them, so that they would hold the 2 inverted flower pots upside down over the flames.

What I like about this model is, you see the flickering flames in the votives. For this model I use 3 larger votive candles, also made of soy wax. In addition to warming the room, it sort of feels like a tiny mini fireplace, which on a cold day is nice to curl up next to.

View Details

Yes Virginia, Global Warming is real, and our planet IS heating up! Yet…wintertime and chilly days still abound. How then do you stay warm, without cooking the rest of the earth?

This episode is ALL about the DIY tips and the science behind staying warm without burning fossil fuel to do so. This episode is not about suffering in a chilly home for the sake of the common good! Its about as cozy as a cup of hot chocolate with a marshmallow on top! All about the warmth!

Episode 15 warm and toasty recap! * What actually happened to our communal home climate-wise this past winter? * How to understand the enviromental cost in the different ways you can heat your home. * Quick and dirty tips for lowering your heating bill AS WELL your CO2 emissions. * What else you can burn in your fireplace to stay warm? (and no, it isn’t your furniture!) * Gorgeous Alternative Fireplace warming options! (real facts, not alternative ones!) * What is a fireplace balloon and why should everyone get one? * HEAT PUMPS? Geo-thermal heat pumps? What on earth....Hmmmm? * DIY–the remarkable invention of the flowerpot heater! * THE EGLOO, why you want one! Why I love them! EGLOO EGLOO EGLOO * Making totally carbon neutral soy tealight candles for fuel! * Meet Jack Monroe, British Budget Food Blogger, and doyenne of how to keep warm in a freezing UK apartment! Tons of DIY Tips from her and her readers on ways to amp up the cozy. * INSULATION. Not such a sexy topic, except, who feels amorous when they are freezing? I ask you? There is a reason more people go to tropical islands for their honeymoons then Reykjavik. * Really easy and odd DIY techniques I guarantee you have never thought of to insulate your windows, and your home all by yourself!

ALL THE LINKS!!!! Facts about energy usage worldwide compared to US use!

Info about how much energy goest to heating and cooling our very own homes!

How to understand the cost to the planet of how you heat your your home!

Wood burning fireplaces and stoves, friend or foe???

Cool info on Bioethanol FP you, yes you can get for wherever you live, even a yurt

How much energy, heat, and money, goes right up your chimney!

The Chimney balloon, where to get one!

The Chimney balloon, how to use one!

Buying a new heater/ac/water heater? All about the geothermal heat pump!

Even St. Pats has gone green! Read about the geothermal heat pump saving NYC’s spiritual environment!

Do geothermal heat pumps cost you more moola in your electric bill?

Myths and Facts about the heat pump! All the info you need!

EGLOO! Buy it here!!![

How to make a flowerpot tea-light heater for your room!

How to make a different version of a flowerpot heater

Where to get carbon neutral candle making supplies!

Meet Jack Monroe and her list of DIY tips for staying warm—read the comments as well!

How Norway stays warm, and it isn’t only snuggling with other blondes!

DIY tips to insulate a drafty apartment!

More great info and DIY keeping warm tips and ways to insulate your home or apartment

View Details

It’s Up To Us This episode is all about how to be an effective social activist in the age of Trump.

In it I discuss how to move from panic mode and fretting to taking the small actions that will really make a huge difference, politically.

Not only is the show full of political activism tips, it also outlines suggestions for how to stay sane while taking those actions.

Additionally there are interviews with Alexander Edelman, political campaign consultant, as well as with James Atkinson, social activist. I discuss with both men what the road ahead looks like for those of us who want to take back our Democracy.

Links and articles mentioned on this episode * How To Be Calm Under Pressure: 3 Secrets From A Bomb Disposal Expert * Sarah Kendzior’s info: website, twitter, text of her tweet * The 2018 Town Hall Project Spread Sheet of schedule for all Congress’s town hall meetings * 5 Calls a Day * Re:act Newsletter mentioned on the show * How to subscribe to the re:act newsletter * Flippable * Countable * Swing Left * Alexander Edelman’s article on Medium * Here is a link to the site which will tell you exactly who your State Senator and State Assemblyperson is. Remember, these are the elected officials in charge of gerrymandering districts! You want to keep your eye on these races, and flip them blue. * How Venezuela dealt with the takeover of their government by the extreme right. Very useful. If you have time…read it. * Air Purifying Vertical Forest Building being constructed in China

Here is James Atkinson’s sample list of organizations in Los Angeles that you can volunteer in to make a huge difference:

If you’re concerned about politics/social justice, and you want to get involved, there are lots of opportunities in LA. Here’s a list of organizations. I’ll update with more later.

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION

civil liberties group
volunteer: https://action.aclu.org/secure/volunteer-aclu-socal
donate: https://action.aclu.org/donate-aclu?ms=web_horiz_nav_hp
contact: 213–977–9500

ANSWER

antiwar / antiracism group
volunteer: http://www.answercoalition.org/volunteer
donate: https://answercoalition.nationbuilder.com/donate
contact: 2936 W 8th St Los Angeles, CA 90005 (2nd floor of the First Unitarian Church)

COUNSEL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS

America’s largest Muslim civil liberties organization
donate: https://www.cair.com/donations/general-donation/campaign/…
volunteer: https://www.cair.com/about-us/volunteer-with-us.html
contact: 2180 W. Crescent Avenue, Suite F Anaheim, CA 92801 714–776–1847 info@losangeles.cair.com

DEMOCRATIC PARTY - LOS ANGELES COUNTY

LACDP conducts Democratic Party campaigns in Los Angeles County
volunteer: http://www.lacdp.org/volunteer/
donate: https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/lacdpdonate
contact: 3550 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 1203 Los Angeles, CA 90010 213–382–0063 info@lacdp.org

DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA

multi-issue, non partisan socialist group
join: https://dsausa.nationbuilder.com/join
donate: https://dsausa.nationbuilder.com/donate
event calendar: http://www.dsa-la.org/dsa-la-calendar/
contact: 323–496–6604 carolnewtn@gmail.com

DIDI HIRSCH MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES

mental health, substance abuse, and suicide prevention services
volunteer: http://www.didihirsch.org/volunteer
donate: https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/weblink.aspx…
contact: 888–807–7250 (M-F 8:30 am - 5:00 pm)

DOWNTOWN WOMEN’S CENTER

helping women overcome poverty
volunteer: http://www.downtownwomenscenter.org/volunteer
donate: http://downtownwomenscenter.force.com/…/rc_connect__campaig…
contact: 442 S San Pedro St Los Angeles, CA 90013 213–680–0600

LA WORKS

calendar of local volunteer opportunities
volunteer: http://www.laworks.com/HOC__Volunteer_Opportunity_Calendar_…
donate: http://www.laworks.com/donate
contact: info@laworks.com 323–224–6510

LOS ANGELES LGBT CENTER

LGTB advocacy group
volunteer: https://lalgbtcenter.org/how-you-can-help/volunteer
donate: https://lalgbtcenter.org/how-you-can-help/donations
contact: 1625 N. Schrader Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90028–6213 323–993–7400

LOS ANGELES MUSEUM OF THE HOLOCAUST

provides free Holocaust education to the public & houses precious artifacts
volunteer: http://www.lamoth.org/…/job-opport…/volunteer-opportunities/
donate: http://www.lamoth.org/support-the-museum/make-a-donation/
contact: Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust 100 S. The Grove Drive Los Angeles, California 90036 323- 651–3704 lisa@lamoth.org

MEXICAN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUCATION FUND

Latino legal civil rights organization
volunteer: jobs@maldef.org
donate: http://www.maldef.org/ways_to_donate/index.html
contact: http://www.maldef.org/contact/index.html 634 S. Spring Street Los Angeles, CA 90014 Phone: 213–629–2512

MIDNIGHT MISSION

services for the homeless to reach self-sufficiency
volunteer: http://www.midnightmission.org/…/spring–2…/volunteer/step–1/
donate: https://app.mobilecause.com/form/j6Qkhw
contact: 601 South San Pedro Street, Los Angeles, CA 90014 USA 213–624–9258

NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR WOMEN

multi issue women’s rights group
join: http://now.org/membership/
donate: http://now.org/more-ways-to-give/

OPERATION HOPE

financial literacy for the poor
volunteer: http://www.operationhope.org/getinvolved
donate: http://www.operationhope.org/donate
contact: Youth Empowerment, Los Angeles 707 Wilshire Boulevard, 30th Floor Los Angeles CA 90017 213–891–2900

PLANNED PARENTHOOD ADVOCACY PROJECT LOS ANGELES COUNTY

public policy & advocacy wing of planned parenthood, the reproductive health care provider
volunteer: http://www.ppactionca.org/…/los-an…/volunteer-with-ppap.html
donate: http://www.ppactionca.org/donateppaplac
contact: grassroots@pp-la.org.org

PUBLIC COUNSEL

pro bono law firm that serves people at or below the poverty line
volunteer: http://www.publiccounsel.org/pages/?id=0048
donate: https://48477.thankyou4caring.org/pag…/donation-welcome-page
contact: 610 South Ardmore Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90005 Tel: (213) 385–2977

RAPE, ABUSE & INCEST NATIONAL NETWORK

anti-sexual violence organization that helps survivors and advocates policies
volunteer: https://www.rainn.org/get-involved
donate: https://donate.rainn.org
locations: https://volopps.rainn.org

SIERRA CLUB

environmental organization
volunteer: http://clubvolunteer.org/positions?chapter=0400
join: https://sierra.secure.force.com/…/rc_connect__campaign_desi…
donate: https://vault.sierraclub.org/ways-to-give/#donate-maintab
contact: Sierra Club, Angeles Chapter 3435 Wilshire Blvd, #660 Los Angeles, CA 90010–1904 info@angeles.sierraclub.org 213–387–4287

TREVOR PROJECT

crisis intervention & suicide prevention for LGBTQ youth
volunteer: http://www.thetrevorproject.org/pages/volunteer
donate: https://give.thetrevorproject.org/
contact: PO Box 69232 West Hollywood, CA 90069 info@thetrevorproject.org 310–271–8845

Thank you To….

Alex Moothart, web design and social media

Elsie Escobar, mentor and fairy godmother extraordinaire!

View Details

Episode #13 Cotton is more than what you wear. This huge crop and the pesticides sprayed on it are also in what you eat and drink. We look at sustainable clothing and how your wardrobe can save the world. Includes an interview with Rebecca Burgess from Fibershed.

Information on Fibershed

Company Website
Fibershed Affiliates, perhaps one is near you!
Retailer directory

Information on Cotton

“Chemical Cotton,” Rodale Institute
The Deadly Chemicals in Cotton,” Environmental Justice Foundation
“Sustainable Agriculture: Cotton,” World Wildlife Foundation
“Conventional Cotton Statistcs,” EcoChoices
“Consumer Guide to Organic Cotton Clothing and Bedding,” bodyfueling.com
“Who Grew Our Clothes?” Fibershed
Sustainable Cotton Project

Information on Pesticides

“Is Roundup killing our honeybees?” Natural news
“Cotton and Pesticides,” National Wildlife Federation

Products

The amazing Krumpers Solar Blinds

http://savetheworldpodcast.tumblr.com/
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter
Email us at howyoucansavetheworld@gmail.com

View Details

From farm to table, how does the food you eat impact the environment? We look what it really means to buy organic and the best ways (if at all) to consume meat.

Links Food Information

Michael Pollan’s Netflix series, Cooked
Jennifer Chait article: “Environmental Benefits of Organic Farming”
The Guardian: “Want to have a real impact on climate change? Then become a vegetarian”
The Guardian: “10 ways vegetarianism can help save the planet”
American Nutrition Association: “Eat Organic and Combat Global Warming”
The Environmental Working Group: This year’s update of EWG’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce & The Dirty 15
Good Food on a Tight Budget

Books

Michael Pollan
Maria Rodale: Organic Manifesto: How Organic Food Can Heal Our Planet, Feed the World, and Keep Us Safe

Recipes

Maria Rodale’s Tomato Soup
Cooking on a Bootstrap
Pam Anderson: How to Cook Without a Book: Recipes and Techniques Every Cook Should Know by Heart

Lettuce vs. Bacon Controversy

Think Progress: “No, Lettuce Is Not Worse For The Environment Than Bacon”
Vegan.com: “Debunking Claims that Lettuce is 3 Times Worse Than Bacon”

How to Cook Without a Book: Recipes and Techniques Every Cook Should Know by Heart

Organic Manifesto: How Organic Food Can Heal Our Planet, Feed the World, and Keep Us Safe

View Details

From windows to appliances to baking bread, we look at all the ways you can save the world from your apartment. Includes interviews with Diana Livshits (Krumpers Solar Blinds) and Erik Knutzen (Root Simple).

Links Appliances

5 Tips on Organizing Your Fridge- The Kitchn
Discover info on energy saving tips for dishwasher usage as well as to discover info about Peak Energy Usage/Time Varied Rate Plan- Energy Upgrade CA
Laundry Information- Michael Blue Jay
How to Replace the Gasket- Family Handyman
Dryers- Michael Blue Jay
Ovens- Michael Blue Jay
How to Caulk Windows- Dummies.com

Cooking

5 Reasons to Use a Bread Machine- Apartment Therapy
How to bake no-knead bread in a slow cooker- YouTube
Oatmeal No-Knead Bread- Garden Form
Sweet Potato Greens Cooking Info- Epicurious

Products

Wool dryer balls- EcoNuts
Solar Screens- Mobile Screens, Etc
Eco-Solar Window Blinds- Krumper’s Solar Blinds
Chargers- Belkin

RootSimple

Link to Kelly and Erik’s website, RootSimple
Their book: Making It: Radical Home Ec for a Post-Consumer World

Useful Information

Airplane Travel Offset Info: Sierra Club, Carbon Footprint, Carbon Fund
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: Counting Carbon- The ICCT
The first world’s first solar-powered airport is in Cochin, India- Daily News

Making It: Radical Home Ec for a Post-Consumer World

View Details

Pesticides and habit changes are killing honeybees. What can we do to rescue these vital pollinators? We talk honey, hives, gardening, and "the birds and the bees" in this month's episode. Interviews with Jessica Lamden and Kirk Anderson.

Helpful bee information

What does a honey bee eat and how do they collect it? -Catskill Provisions
Why do honey bees need pollen? -Bee Pollen Products
HoneyLove, urban bee keepers (website of the McFarlands, authors of Save the Bees with Natural Backyard Hives)
The Orchard Mason Bee: The Life History, Biology, Propagation, and Use of a North American Native Bee by Brian L. Griffin (Author), Sharon Smith (Illustrator)
Bee friendly plants
Suggestions for planting a bee garden from Honey Bee Conservancy
Natural Resources Defense Council information on saving the bees
Nature Conservancy’s page on bees
Suggestions for planting a bee garden from Honey Bee Conservancy

Kirk Anderson’s Apiary

Apricot Lane Farms

Call to Action

Contact the biggest manufacturer of Neonics, Bayer
I could not, of course, locate an actual address for the CEO of Bayer but here is his snail mail address. I’d just write a note addressed to the CEO of Bayer MY research indicates that this is:
Dr. Marijn Dekkers, 51368 Leverkusen, Germany, Phone: +49 214 30-1
Monsanto, thee US’s the biggest ahem, home grown, polluter.
Their website claims they are a “sustainable corporation.” Contact them and tell them what you think
Two websites to find your congressperson and/or your senator and/or your state senator so you can email all of them about banning Neonics and saving the bees:
OpenCongress.org
House.gov

Save the Bees with Natural Backyard Hives: The Easy and Treatment-Free Way to Attract and Keep Healthy Bees

The Orchard Mason Bee: The Life History, Biology, Propagation, and Use of a North American Native Bee

View Details

From gardening to canning to keeping chickens, we look at the ways of urban homesteaders and how this method of sustainable living keeps you healthy while reducing your carbon footprint. Includes an interview with Erica Strauss, author of The Hands-On Home: A Seasonal Guide to Cooking, Preserving & Natural Homekeeping.

Find us on:

Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr

Email us with suggestions or tips at howyoucansavetheworld@gmail.com

Links Erica Strauss’ Website

Northwest Edible Life

Websites

Little House in the Suburbs

Books

Just a note, whenever you can, buy titles from local bookstores, like Diesel Book Store for those of you based in Los Angeles
Little House in the Suburbs: Backyard farming and home skills for self-sufficient living by by Deanna Caswell and Daisy Siskins
Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer by Novella Carpenter
The Quarter-Acre Farm: How I Kept the Patio, Lost the Lawn, and Fed My Family for a Year by Spring Warren
The Hands-On Home: A Seasonal Guide to Cooking, Preserving & Natural Homekeeping by Erica Strauss and Charity Burggraaf

Little House in the Suburbs: Backyard farming and home skills for self-sufficient living

The Quarter-Acre Farm: How I Kept the Patio, Lost the Lawn, and Fed My Family for a Year

Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer

The Hands-On Home: A Seasonal Guide to Cooking, Preserving & Natural Homekeeping

View Details

In our new segment, we look at one person’s amazing endeavors to save the world. Our second installment features an interview with Beth Terry, creator of My Plastic Free Life.

Find us on:

Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr

Email us with suggestions or tips at howyoucansavetheworld@gmail.com

View Details

Is it possible to have an environmentally friendly holiday season? Barbara Edelman looks at all the ways you can celebrate with e-cards, lights and candles, trees, and amazing gifts. You can do it all and still save the world. Seasons greetings indeed.

Find us on:

Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr

Email us with suggestions or tips at howyoucansavetheworld@gmail.com

All the information from this episode:

Articles

The environmental cost in the UK of a typical holiday season (Independent)
Are your holiday cards bad for the environment? (Mashable)
Are candles bad for the environment? (Naked Scientist)
Soy candles vs paraffin (Zuna)
Christmas Tree Debate: Real vs. Fake? (The Nature Conservancy)
LED Christmas Lights Versus Regular Christmas Lights (Christmas Tree Market)
LED Christmas Lights Guide (Christmas Lights, Etc.)
Light Pollution Harms the Environment (Department of Physics, Florida Atlantic University)

Products

Beeswax Chanukah Candles from Beeswax Candleworks
Candy canes from Spangler Candy
Luci, solar powered lanterns from Mpowerd
Black+Blum Thermo Pot

Gift Guides

Earth Easy: Carbon neutral gifts along with blogs and every other neat thing for house and garden.
Waldorf Supplies: For wooden toys that expand the mind.
TOMS: Products that benefit the environment and gives back to those in need.
China Berry: Great books and toys.
Hearth Song: A toy company, especially great for kids 9-12,
Isabella Catalog: Wonderful for the woman in your life and make sure to look at the Enessa beauty products. They are all packaged in glass (yay, no plastic!).
Rodales: The winner in the fabulous catalog department. We defy you to NOT find a gift for anyone on your list.

View Details

The world is getting hotter and you need to stay cool. But how can you do that and save the world? We look at air conditioners, fans, and all the other ways you can save energy and money. Includes an interview with Daniel Payne from Payne Air Conditioned Heating and Service.

Find us on:

Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr

Email us with suggestions or tips at howyoucansavetheworld@gmail.com

All the information from this episode:

This Episode’s Guest

Payne Air Conditioned Heating and Service

Energy Links

Energy Star: Save Energy at Home
US Department of Labor: average energy prices
Michael BlueJay
Home Power: “Cheaper, efficient cooling with whole-house fans”
“Cool your house with negative pressure ventilation”

Energy Calculators

Rapid Tables: watts to kWh calculator
EPA: Greenhouse gas equivalences calculator

Products

Gila 10386589 Platinum Heat Control Peel and Cling Window Film
AirScape 3.5e WHF
Ergodyne Chill-Its 6602 Evaporative Cooling Towel

View Details

What can you do to rid the world of excess CO2? We talk about food and farming solutions with Courtney White, author of “Grass, Soil, Hope.” Yes, there really is a solution to global warming! For show notes visit savetheworldpodcast.tumblr.com. Email us at howyoucansavetheworld@gmail.com

Find us on:

Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr

Email us with suggestions or tips at howyoucansavetheworld@gmail.com

All the information from this episode:

Articles

Limited Progress Seen Even as More Nations Step Up on Climate (New York Times)
Ex Machina: No Techno-Fix For Irreversible Ocean Collapse From Carbon Pollution (Climate Progress)
Acid Test: Rising CO2 Levels Killing Ocean Life (Op-Ed) (Live Science)

Books by Courtney White

Grass, Soil, Hope
Two Percent Solutions for the Planet

To purchase cover crops

Grow Organic

A call to action!

Email or mail a letter to Gehry Partners, LLP to ask that the renovation of the LA River include a plan to sequester carbon. Sample letter can be found here.

I personally think that anyone getting a real live letter might actually read it, rather than just toss it unread into the trashcan. You yourselves know that emails from organizations or people you don’t know immediately get tossed in the electronic trash can–so give writing a real letter a try!

View Details

In our new segment, we look at one person's amazing endeavors to save the world. Our first installment features an interview with Dr. George Fenwick, President of The American Bird Conservatory, and his work saving birds and their habitats.

Find us on:

Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr

Email us with suggestions or tips at howyoucansavetheworld@gmail.com

View Details

How can bird feeders and plants turn your backyard into a species saving sanctuary? This episode we travel to Sedona’s Hummingbird Festival to learn how we can keep these small and important birds off the endangered list. Includes interviews with Dr. H. Ross Hawkins (Founder and Executive Director of The Hummingbird Society) and Noelle Johnson (AZ Plant Lady).

Find us on:

Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr

Email us with suggestions or tips at howyoucansavetheworld@gmail.com

All the information from this episode:

Useful information on birds

The Hummingbird Society
2016 Hummingbird Society Calendar
Iowa Nature Mapping- Developing Your Observation Skills
Noelle Johnson, AZ Plant Lady
Gardening suggestions, and tips. Contact her if you have any questions or need a consultation.
Check out Noelle’s articles on Houzz
Birds and Blooms
Site with tips on how to create a bird friendly backyard

Products mentioned in the podcast

The Bees by Laline Paull
Product review: Birds and Beans coffee
Saving birds through a cup of delicious coffee. A variety of roasts, delivered to your door.

View Details

What is methane gas and how can you reduce it through composting? We look at the power of dirt and worms in this month’s episode. Includes interviews with Justin Perkins and Larry Heliker.

Find us on:

Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr

Email us with suggestions or tips at howyoucansavetheworld@gmail.com

All the information from this episode:

Overview of Compost Basics

What is soil/dirt?
RecycleWorks website of San Matteo County
How to make a basic compost heap

Compost Methods

The Lasagna Method
Green Cone
How to use a Green Cone
How to buy a Green Cone
Worms
A basic overview
Gardener’s Supply Store (to purchase worm bins)
Wormwoman.com (to purchase accessories)

New Product Review

Green Cycler

Helpful Links

Plastic Chart
What number is what and what can be recycled
A Girl Called Jack
A neat food blog from the UK, that actually saves you money. Fabulous recipes and via her Instagram account, we found the idea for the dried citrus ‘butts’ fire starters

View Details

In our continuing attempt to rid the oceans of plastic, we see if we can make our own beauty and cleaning products. The question is, do they work and how much money can you save? Including an interview with BeakerBabe.

Find us on:

Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr

Email us with suggestions or tips at howyoucansavetheworld@gmail.com

All the information from this episode:

Books

My Plastic Free Life by Beth Teri
Better Basics for the Home by Anne Berthold Bond (includes recipe for glass cleaner mentioned in the episode)

Recipes

Toner (Ashley’s Homemade Adventures)
Hand soap (Ashley’s Homemade Adventures) .
Floor cleaner wipes (Live Simply)

Products

Lush’s Toothy Tabs
Lush’s Shampoo Bars
Eco Nuts Laundry Detergent

Beaker Babe

Beakerbabe.com
@beakerbabe

View Details

A look at the ocean and the environmental impact of our addiction to plastic. Includes interviews with Captain Charles Moore (Founder of Algalita, Marine Research and Education) and Lisa Kaas Boyle (environmental attorney and Founder of Plastic Pollution Coalition).

Find us on:

Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr

Email us with suggestions or tips at howyoucansavetheworld@gmail.com

All the information from this episode:

Movies

Films to further educate yourself on the plastic pollution problem:

Creating Art from Plastics in the Ocean (National Geographic)
Plastic Paradise (Angela Sun)
Trashed (Jeremy Irons)

Helpful Articles

“22 Facts About Plastic Pollution (And 10 Things We Can Do About It)”
From EcoWatch

“The Link Between Plastic Use and Climate Change: Nitty-gritty”
From Stanford Magazine

Plastic Facts from the EPA

“Phytoplankton on Decline in Southern Ocean”
From The New York Times

“Mediterranean Sea ‘accumulating zone of plastic debris'”
From BBC

“Surprise Finding Heightens Concern Over Tiny Bits Of Plastic Polluting Our Oceans”
From Huffington Post

“Exposure to harmful phthalates from processed foods and soft drinks”
From Phys.org

“Ocean Acidification: A Global Case of Osteoporosis”
From Discover Magazine

“Got Science? Nine Surprising Signs Momentum Is Building for Climate Action”
From Huffington Post

Helpful Sites

“How much fossil fuel has been used in your lifetime?”
See how much fuel we are burning and how much CO2 is going into the atmosphere per second. Right now.
Bottled Water Fact Sheet
A guide to recycling plastics
My Plastic Free Life

Environmental Organizations Mentioned in this Podcast

Plastic Pollution Coalition
Algalita
5 Gyres
NRDC
Sierra Club
GreenPeace
Oceana
Ocean Conservancy
Surfrider
TreePeople

Products Mentioned

Sustainable NYC
Kishu Charcoal
Life Factory water bottles
Kleen Kanteen water bottles

View Details

How You Can Save the World is a podcast about the simple steps anyone can take to help to save the environment.

In our first episode, we begin by looking at energy in the home, comparing the benefits to the environment and your wallet when you replace your lightbulbs with LEDs.

Find us on:

Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr

Email us with suggestions or tips at howyoucansavetheworld@gmail.com

All the information from this episode:

Greenhouse Gas Calculator
Determine your energy savings

Look at your energy bill, determine your cost per kilowatt hour (kwh). Mine is 11 cents.

Go to Micheal Bluejay, and plug in your energy usage cost, per one bulb, per hours burned, to his calculator. That will give you, the cost to operate one bulb per month. Then multiply that by 12 (a year) and multiply that by how many bulbs you use in your house.

Micheal Blue Jay
Additional energy saving calculators

Where to buy bulbs
Light Bulbs Unlimited (interviewed in podcast)
Home Depot

California Public Utilities Commission
Find out where you can recycle your bulbs

Environmental Defense Fund

DIY sites to make solar lanterns
This Old House (mason jar solar lanterns)
Put it in a Jar
Free People

Products Reviewed
SunJar (Suck.UK)
Water Battery Powered Clock (Bedol Water Clock)

How You Can Save The World: Sustainable Living and Social Activism: Recent Episodes

Barbara Edelman